A Brief History of Pawn

Have you ever needed cash and taken items to your local pawn shop? Maybe you’ve stopped in on the other side – looking for a new television or jewelry and wanted to shop what was available. Whatever your situation, there’s a good chance that even if you’ve been to a pawn shop, you don’t know how they came to be such a fixture in communities around the world. Let’s take a deeper look at the history of pawn shops.

It all started around 3,000 years ago when the first pawn loans were utilized in faraway places like China and within the Greek and Roman cultures, according to Pawn Shops Today. In the 14th century, England’s King Edward III was a lover of the pawn shop and had them sprinkled throughout the country. Back then, these stores were so important to the people that even Queen Isabella is even rumored to have pawned her famous royal jewels so that she could finance Christopher Columbus’ incredible voyage to the new world.

The pawnbroker tradition is so rich that the profession actually carries its own universal symbol. As you’ve probably seen when passing any pawn shop window around the country, the pawnbroker’s symbol is three gold spheres hanging from a bar. This symbol actually comes from the Medici family coat of arms. The Medicis grew and developed an influential trading and banking empire in Florence, and their family crest has become synonymous today with pawn brokering, says AOL Finance.

At Lincoln Square Pawnbrokers, we hold the pawnbroker tradition near and dear, and we promise to follow the morals and code of ethics of those pawnbrokers before us with every one of our customers today. Come into our shop and preview our collection of jewelry, gaming systems, gift cards and more or learn about the pawnbroking process. Visit our location at 724 Amsterdam Ave. in NYC or call us today at 212-865-8860.